The most surprising thing on Earth

In the Mahabharata, during the Yaksha Prashna incident, Yama asks Dharmaraja a wide variety of questions. Yudhisthira gives extremely knowledgeable replies to all the questions. Out of those, I find one question (and answer) extra-ordinarily accurate and relevant even today.

The Yaksha asks the Pandava

“What is the most wonderful thing (aascharya) that you notice in the world?”

“Day after day, countless people are going to the abode of Yama, yet those that remain behind believe themselves to be immortal. What can be more wonderful/surprising than this”

How true! If only people realized how transient one’s stay here is, perhaps the greed and desire one harbors towards materialistic pleasures and the hatred one pursues towards fellow beings may reduce.